Three Refs Appeared to Have Clear View of Byron Young Grabbing Sam Darnold's Face Mask

Stephen Douglas | Oct 25, 2024

Byron Young may have gotten away with a face mask here. / @cjzero

Byron Young clinched the Los Angeles Rams' victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night by taking Sam Darnold down in the end zone for a safety. Allen grabbed Darnold by the face mask and turned his helmet around, leaving Darnold on the ground looking for a yellow flag.

Somehow none were thrown despite the fact that at least three officials appeared to have a clear look at Darnold's head getting twisted by Young. Multiple replay angles show referees in perfect position to watch whatever was happening to the quarterback.

Here are three of those replays.

Three replay angles, tough scene. Feel like the proactive reviews should be able to call this pic.twitter.com/VUpU2C4usk

— Vikings Blogger (@firstandskol) October 25, 2024

That's rough. Especially for the Vikings and any fans hoping to see the Vikings mount a possible game-tying drive in the final minutes of the game. It's not that viewers were robbed of an unlikely comeback so much as everyone was robbed of a dramatic finish.

Officials failing to throw a flag there ended the game. Instead of 96 seconds of entertainment, fans watched Matthew Stafford take a knee three times while everyone complained about the officiating and wondered what the point of instant replay is if they can't use it to get something this obvious right.

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